Talk about timing. Just as the Bristol Ensemble is about to unveil its "Northern Lights" series at the Colston Hall, along comes the real thing – though since the light show managed to bypass Bristol, maybe the concerts are as near as we're likely to get!

There are three of them between now and May. Each is devoted to a single country, and each boasts a star soloist – one of them bordering on the heroic!

First up is Finland with an all-Sibelius programme that wraps the patriotic Finlandia and glowing Symphony No. 5 around the Violin Concerto – a work that should be should be fresh under Chloe Hanslip's fingers since she played it in New Zealand just last month.

Future instalments include a Norwegian night in April with pianist Peter Donohoe performing the Grieg concerto, and the series winds up in Russia as Andrei Gavrilov puts pianistic stamina to the ultimate test when he braves Rachmaninov's formidable Piano Concerto No. 3 and the mighty Tchaikovsky No. 1 on the same May evening.

The conductor for that marathon is yet to be announced, but the first two reunite the orchestra with an old friend. Ben Gernon stepped in to complete its Beethoven symphony cycle last season. And things are hotting up with a vengeance since he bagged the Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award last year. As well as a burgeoning engagements diary he's been signed up by the "dude" as a Gustavo Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. California dreamin' to die for!

Comments

The "conductor" for the 3rd concert is Andrei Gavrilov himself!!
He will be directing both concertos from the piano, and will also be conducting the other item on the program: Mussorgsky's A Night on the Bare Mountain.